Bitter, A Tale of Life Everlasting
by Six-string Samurai
Summary: Time passes ever on with certainty...but it change always brought along for the ride?
1. Default Chapter

A Ranma Nibunnoichi fan fiction by S³ Ranma and Co. is Copyright Rumiko Takahashi/Shogakukan, Inc. 1993  
  
Ranma ½ is a trademark of Viz Communications, Inc.  
  
Bitter, A Tale of Life Everlasting  
  
Ranma snapped awake with a sharp intake of breath. Slowly he calmed his breathing, as remnants of the dream wisped away to nothingness. Straining his hearing to its limits only confirmed what he suspected, the only audible sounds were his father's obnoxious snores. That meant the scream that had woken him was only dream stuff. Wiping a sweaty brow, the young Saotome propped himself up on the futon. Absently, he realized that this marked the third nightmare he'd had over the past week. Each time had been much the same as the last. People were suffering, friends, relatives. And each time, he could only look on, forced to watch as everyone he knew was struck down by some malignant force.  
  
Clearing the fog from his mind was a little harder than he thought, so he'd gone down to the kitchen for something to drink. That he'd stopped to listen at each door he passed never really registered, Ranma was running on automatic at this point. Now that his throat no longer felt like it was lined with sandpaper, he could clear his mind and sort through it all. Closing his eyes, the images came fast and hard, almost as if they were burned onto the back of his eyelids. Kasumi, gasping for breath as the life was choked out of her by invisible hands locked around her throat in a vise grip. Ukyou's face being repeatedly mashed against a heated grill. Shampoo leaning out a window, only to have it slam shut onto the small of her back.  
  
Ranma took another drink of water, letting his head rest against his forearms atop the table. With crap like this running through his head, the prospect of sleep wasn't quite as alluring. He thought about going out to the dojo, but while doing a kata usually cleared his mind, violence was not what he wanted to concentrate on. Maybe some fresh air would help clear the uneasy feeling that was clenching at his chest. Getting up from the table, he crossed the room and opened the sliding door to the back yard. Outside, the waning moon cast everything into half shadows and remembered form.  
  
It didn't take long before Ranma found himself lying on his back on the roof top, looking up at the infinite beyond that stretched from star to star. He needed reassurance that things were still the same. Even if it was in the ever constant sight of the heavens above. It wasn't like he could just go and unburden himself to someone. All of the people he knew here, they either couldn't, or wouldn't listen to what he had to say. Precious few would understand what he was feeling right now regardless, he simply did not know how to convey what it was that troubled him.  
  
Akane, she would scoff at him, calling him anything ranging from an idiot to a certified pervert. She'd been moody lately and snubbed him outright more often than not, these past few months. Nabiki, no that choice was out of consideration from the start. First she'd charge him something outrageous like a consultation fee on for just hearing him out, and then probably add on an advice fee for good measure. Besides, nothing good ever came of following her advice. Kasumi, too, was out. The eldest Tendou daughter simply did not get out much, what did her experiences count for against his own? While Ranma thought highly of her capacity as a homemaker, she ranked low in nearly every other aspect when compared to the rest of those he knew.  
  
Ukyou, his onetime best friend, was more interested in him as a marriage prospect than a friend. Sure, he went to her countless times in the past with his problems, but that had only ever ended with him pounded flat by an irate Akane. Ukyou really never seemed to be actually listening to what he was saying anyway. It was more like she was in her own little world the entire time. Ukyou had enough on her mind right now anyway, Ranma mused, what with Konatsu sick, and classes out for the summer.  
  
The Chinese Amazons were another matter all together. After living in Japan for more than a year, Shampoo had a fair grasp of the language, but there were still nuances she had yet to master. If Ranma had a hard time getting his thoughts out to a native speaker, what was Shampoo going to make of it? Talking to either Mousse or the old ghoul was also a no go. The Matriarch was too set on making Ranma a part of her tribe to consider her advice more than dubious. Mousse, a guy who repeatedly accosted strangers and small animals because he mistook them for his true love, well that was a mistake waiting to happen.  
  
Who was left for him to turn to? Both his father and sadly, Mr. Tendou, were unreliable and maybe unstable. Sure they were great martial artists, in their day, but they were about as socially adept as wet carpet. Ryouga, his other good friend, was never around long enough to hold a decent conversation with, not anymore. Not after The Attempt. Ranma shuddered, hearing the emphasis his mind put on the event two months back. He had been so close to a cure, and so close to being the most miserable guy on the face of the planet. Married to Akane, for the rest of his life . . . that nightmare was nearly as bad as these recent ones. With the list of possible confidants at an end, Ranma was still at a loss for what to do. He could feel something fundamentally wrong, hanging in the air like Ryouga's Perfect Shishi Houkoudan, just waiting for the right moment to come crashing down.  
  
Not much later, and still as unresolved as before, Ranma watched as the sun broke the horizon line suffusing the rooftops of Nerima with faint warmth, a thin blanket against the chill of the dewy morning. The dawn offered promise, hope for a solution to his problem and rising discomfort. Already he could feel the household below beginning to stir. It wouldn't be long before the smell of breakfast wafted out from the kitchen window, as Kasumi was by nature, an early riser. Though he hadn't had much sleep, Ranma felt nonetheless refreshed buy the thought of food, and stood up to begin his descent down to the yard. Maybe he'd offer to help Kasumi in the kitchen, not that she needed it. Surely she'd appreciate the offer though, maybe even dole out an extra portion for a starving martial artist like himself. With that firmly in mind, Ranma slipped down and back inside the house with ease.  
  
Despite a lingering feeling of discord, the rest of the morning passed uneventfully. Akane still was ignoring him, as she had been since classes had let out at the beginning of the week. She wasn't malicious about it, just calmly disregarding his presence, as if he were beneath her notice. It was a feeling he was used to getting from Nabiki, and it was strange to feel it from the more hotheaded Akane.  
  
With Akane's cold front up and still going strong the two fathers started to sweat at the prospect of their children never reconciling, and thus the schools never joining. Before they could begin carrying on and bemoaning the younger generation, Ranma excused himself from the table to go get dressed. If Akane could be aloof, then so could he. At least her behavior was giving him a few days of relative peace. Before the wedding fiasco, he had enjoyed the on and off again friendship. It was another of the things he could count on to always be there. Or so he had thought at the time. Now, however, things were different, and it was not a good kind of change.  
  
Steam from the furo filled the washroom as he padded across the tile to sit on the bath stool. Surrendering his male form to the curse, Ranma washed away the dry night sweat and soapy lather with a bucketful of freezing water. Shaking her head free of the beads of water that remained, she moved to get into the hot water of the furo. Heaving a sigh, he allowed himself to relax against the tile wall. Even if he no longer disdained his female form, he always felt a measure of relief when his body was restored. Too many of the others thought his curse was a joke, even still. Rather, due to all his past misfortunes, it was seen as something close to natural. The day he considered his curse as natural... well, he just prayed that day never came.  
  
Admittedly, it could always be worse in a manner of speaking, like in Ryouga's case. Shampoo, best not to think too hard about that one. On the other hand, Mousse made the best of his curse in Ranma's opinion. Even as a duck he could still use his hidden weapon techniques. Even if he was still blind in duck form, it wasn't so bad off. So the lot of them lost their forms, they never lost their gender. Never lost their identity. Ryouga never made mention of thinking he was a pig, nor did Shampoo think she was a c.., or Mousse, a duck.  
  
Ranma though, since his curse was gender based, was he a real girl sometimes? Or was the change just on the outside? How could he know the answer, when he couldn't understand himself, much less girls in general? Feeling less relaxed as the downward spiral continued, Ranma tried breaking the line of thought, only to be confronted with the sinking feeling of dread that had really only existed in his dreams up until that morning. There must be something to take his mind off of all of this. He needed some way to vent his growing unease and frustration.  
  
A piercing scream rent the air, startling Ranma out of his daze. Abruptly he burst up out of the furo and slid across the tile to grab a towel and hastily throw it around his waist as he continued out into the hall. A second shriek sounded from the direction of the kitchen, thus identified, he burst into overdrive, clearing the stairs and rounding the corner at the bottom in seconds flat. Still dripping wet, Ranma came face to face with a sight both comical and slightly disturbing at the same time. Kasumi was standing on the table with a broom held in defensive position, while a somewhat large rat sat on its haunches in the middle of the kitchen floor chittering up at her.  
  
Without taking her gaze off the rodent, Kasumi addressed Ranma with a faint quiver in her voice, "Ranma, do you think you could get the rat out of my kitchen? It was hiding in the cabinet and it bit me when I reached down to get a pan. Hurry, please. I couldn't chase it out with the broom. It just sits there." For a moment, he was at a loss. But then what Kasumi said registered, the rat had bitten her. Who knew what kind of disease it might have infected her with?  
  
With resolve, Ranma moved in on his quarry. True to her words, the rat paid him no mind as it continued staring at Kasumi with its cold black eyes. If it ever had any intention of flight, it gave no sign before Ranma snapped its neck with a sudden strike. As if a flood gate had been opened the tension drained out of the room, and Ranma felt both himself and Kasumi relax visibly. Turning to her, he gestured half heartedly at the dead rodent, "Where should I put it?" Kasumi inspected her hand as she told him to dispose of it outside in the garbage.  
  
It was late afternoon when Mr. Tendou and the rest finally returned home from the busy shopping district. Not that they hadn't finished much sooner, but the trains had been unusually off schedule. The fact that Akane had wandered off to do some window shopping just before they were ready to head back to the station wasn't a factor at all. For once, Ranma had surmised correctly, the outing had left a much cheerier disposition on the youngest Tendou, despite the inconvenient train ride back into Nerima.  
  
Nevertheless, whatever magic transpired back at the center vanished once Akane heard Nabiki begin to read from a note she found taped to the phone.  
  
"Kasumi got a little hurt so I took her to the Hospital. The phone's broken, so don't wait up for a call or nothing. Gonna be back soon. -Ranma," Nabiki finished aloud. Before she could even set down the paper, Akane pushed her aside and grabbed for the receiver.  
  
Frustrated, Akane nearly shattered the plastic cradle when she put the phone back down. "There's no tone. I think it's actually broken."  
  
Nabiki just stared at her sibling for a moment, before dryly remarking that the note should have made that perfectly clear. For her part, Akane glared daggers at Nabiki as she responded in kind, "I know that, I was just checking to be sure. You know Ranma, who knows where he whisked Kasumi off to. That jerk, when I find him, why," Akane's tirade was interrupted by an odd flicker off to one side. When the two sisters turned to figure out what was going on, they were only mildly surprised to find that the source was none other than their own father.  
  
Soun, upon hearing that his beloved daughter was in mortal danger, had naturally broken down into tears over the seeming loss of his eldest daughter and housekeeper. But, once Akane had thrown her accusations about, he switched into vengeful patriarch mode. Unfortunately for him, the two states were warring with each other. He kept dropping to his knees in a fountain of tears, only to spring up a second later declaring that the fiends who stole his daughter be hounded to the ends of the earth if need be. However comical the sight may have been, it was equally pathetic, and Nabiki was not going to sit there and watch the spectacle her father was making of himself. Finding out exactly where Ranma had taken her sister, now that she considered important.  
  
Since Doc Tofuu was long gone, the only 'hospital' Ranma could have been referring to in the area was Nerima General. She thought about just catching a taxi, but that would cost more than she was willing to spend at the moment, especially when Ranma was a reliable person when it came to protecting the Tendou's welfare. He could have at least written down the time he left the house, Nabiki thought to herself. It wouldn't have taken him too long to get to the hospital, even carrying another person. Not one to wait around for things to happen, Nabiki grabbed her purse and walked out to use the neighbor's phone.  
  
Thanking the Yamada's for the use of their phone, she went back to tell everyone that Kasumi was indeed at the Hospital; Ranma had checked her in about two hours ago. Of course, although Kasumi had been admitted, it most likely had taken most of the intervening time just to get in to see a physician. Naturally, the receptionist was not very forthcoming with the details, and Nabiki only came away with part of the picture. With such minor details to go on, she wasn't as relieved as she'd hoped to be upon locating her elder sister. On the bright side, a positive location on Kasumi served to settle both Akane and their father.  
  
Knowing exactly where Kasumi was proved cause enough to spring for a taxi down to the Hospital. There hadn't been much need for everyone to go along, but all three Tendous were in agreement that they should go, for supportive reasons. The elder Saotome however, elected to remain behind, as he felt he would only be in the way. He tried to convince Soun to stay behind as well, but his old friend was firm in his decision. Wishing them well, Genma settled back, sure in the conviction that surely nothing all that terrible had happened to Kasumi, thinking otherwise was contrary to any who knew the girl.  
  
Ranma was getting worried. Nobody would tell him anything, not the doctors, nor any of the nurses seemed to know anything about Kasumi. Matters weren't helped any by the fact that every time the pigtailed boy tried to find out what was going on, the person he asked practically ignored him, then just pointed him off in some random direction. That's what it felt like anyway. If people kept brushing him off like this, he was going to explode. No one could even tell him what room they had put Kasumi in. 


	2. Crumbling Walls part 1

A Ranma Nibunnoichi fan fiction by S³  
  
Ranma and Co. is Copyright Rumiko Takahashi/Shogakukan, Inc. 1993  
  
Ranma ½ is a trademark of Viz Communications, Inc.  
  
Bitter, A Tale of Life Everlasting  
  
Part One  
  
Crumbling Walls  
  
Things had gotten off to a bad start the moment he'd carried her in through the front doors of Nerima  
  
General. The place was packed, more so than he'd ever seen it before. Not that the two times he'd  
  
been here counted much in the grand scheme of things. But, in his opinion, the place felt crowded.   
  
Nurses and orderlies were rushing about the place, and none slower than a jog. Just what was going  
  
on around here? Ranma hadn't seen any signs of a crash or a fire from the roofs on the way over.  
  
  
  
Thinking back, he couldn't help but recall the horrible look on Kasumi's face just before she  
  
nearly passed out back at the house. Not that he blamed her, once he found out the reason for her  
  
distress. The area around the bite on her hand was puffy, and had turned a nauseating shade of  
  
yellowish-purple. Not only that, but the wound was seeping slightly through the gauze wrap that he'd  
  
applied. No doubt, there was some sort of infection from the bite. Unfailingly, Ranma had pointed that  
  
out to an already woozy Kasumi. In hindsight, that hadn't been one of his brighter moments.  
  
"Hey, can I get some help here," Ranma called out to more than one passing orderly. On what  
  
felt like the fifteenth attempt, his persistence was rewarded in the form of a young nurse. She must be  
  
new, he decided upon further inspection. Though outwardly, she bore the same look as the rest of the  
  
staff, she seemed to be a little more, flustered.  
  
"How can I help you," the nurse asked with a slight frown, as if he were impeding her in some  
  
way.   
  
"Uh, I brought my friend here earlier, and the people at the front desk won't tell me what room  
  
she's in now. I'm just tryin ta find her." Ranma tried to keep his voice even, but the exasperation was  
  
starting to show through.  
  
Bearing a faint, but sympathetic smile, the nurse found him a seat on a bench next to a nearby  
  
window. "Stay here, I'll be back in a few minutes with her room number, there's a few things I have to  
  
take care of first." Taking out a small notepad she looked at him expectantly.  
  
"Oh, Tendou Kasumi. I brought her in about an hour ago."  
  
The nurse jotted in her pad and went on her way after assuring him once more.  
  
Sighing, Ranma settled in for what he hoped wasn't too long a wait. Once he found her room,  
  
he would try to call the Tendou's in case they'd fixed the phone somehow.  
  
* * *  
  
They all but rushed through the front doors of Nerima General, Soun leading the way toward  
  
the front desk. Unfortunately, a line had formed before they arrived, and from the way people were  
  
milling around, the wait was going to be a long one. Not wanting to be around in case her father had  
  
one of his episodes, Nabiki left her sister in his care and made her way past the crowd and into the  
  
hospital. Surely she could find Ranma and Kasumi faster on her own.  
  
For his part, Soun was so preoccupied, he never noticed the absence of one daughter. Akane  
  
decided to wait a few minutes, in case the line started moving faster. If it took too long, she told herself  
  
that she'd just drag her father off to find Nabiki and the others. Tempted as she was to follow Nabiki  
  
herself, she didn't really like hospitals all that much. Especially if she was by herself in one. No, she'd  
  
wait out the line. If Nabiki thought Kasumi was here, then she probably was.  
  
Akane had cooled down on the ride over and was no longer mad at Ranma. In fact, she was  
  
still trying to figure out what had set her off so badly back at home. When she really thought about it, it  
  
must've been the fact that Ranma had somehow let Kasumi get hurt. Or, so it had seemed to her at the  
  
time. Shaking her head, she calmed down and leaned against her father's shoulder hoping Nabiki  
  
would come back soon and tell them where they could find the room.  
  
Finding no real help on the first floor, Nabiki decided to take the elevator up to the next likely  
  
floor. It hadn't taken long for the doors to open, so she had just enough time to glance at the floor plan  
  
and find a suitable destination.  
  
According to the floor chart, the third floor looked to be where the ward for non-critical  
  
patients was located. Pressing the third floor button, Nabiki leaned against the rail and looked out  
  
through the glass pane at the lights of the city beyond. When the door chime sounded, she moved to  
  
step out into the hall, just barely avoiding a pair of doctors rushing past to get into the elevator.  
  
As the doors swished shut behind her, she rolled her eyes at the non-professionalism exhibited  
  
by the two she'd just passed. In her opinion, doctors shouldn't be running just to get into an elevator.   
  
It's not like that would get them to where they were going any faster. That aside, all she had to do was  
  
find a waiting room and ask whomever was behind the desk for directions.  
  
* * * 


End file.
